Reasons to believe - by Piero Alberici

Why aren’t all web designers millionaires?

Think about it, if you knew how to sell things profitably online why would you bother developing sites for other people? It is because well designed websites are just part of what is needed online? So instead of updating your Twitter feed or adding a pithy post to your Facebook page please have a think about your company’s website and whether it is doing the job you hoped for. Fundamentally, is it making you money either by selling things or creating new customer enquiries?

Replace habit with thinking

Both in business and our personal lives we are all guilty of continuing with a behaviour we know is both wasteful and damaging. We become weirdly trapped by our own history, reluctant to challenge the main reason for our predictability -which often come down to - that’s the way we have alway done it.

Why not pick one thing you are unhappy with regarding how your business operates and have close look at what you could do differently. If you annually produce a company brochure lets revisit how well the last version performed. Who was it sent to? How was the mail out followed up? What do the sales people think about it? Did it make money?

Marketing and sales is about customer acquisition and retention so if the brochure is not delivering on these 2 criteria it is time to think about the content, how it is being distributed and ultimately if it is the right tactic to generate more revenue.

By constantly re-thinking old habits we can embed a challenging culture in the business that helps a business driven by continuous improvement. 

Sales is hard…

About 20 years ago I took a job as a salesman and was immediately allocated a territory that I was instructed to canvas for leads. I knew what my territory was because it was written on the Yellow Pages next to the telephone on my new desk. The brief - call people up and make appointments to sell my new companies computer products. 

My first calls were awkward and stilted mainly because I had nothing to say after I’d stammered my way through introducing myself, often being cut off even before I’d spat out the company name. So yes, I’d connected with a potential customer but no useful communication was taking place. 

In time, you learn from good sales people and discover what works for you. It is then that you realise that the often quoted sales truisms are invariably true.

People do buy people. Successful sales appointments do invariably end up as relaxed conversations. You will benefit from doing more listening than talking. There are 1000’s of sales books giving step-by-step guides on how to build rapport and undertake an effective fact find. Ultimately people buy from people and businesses that they trust and who can demonstrate they understand their needs.

Obtaining peoples trust is hard. It takes effort and effective communication skills. Building a great sales team is difficult and this has led many digital companies to implement sales strategies that eliminate the need for a direct sales team. When I see business plans presenting high growth freemium based sales strategies that will generate island buying wealth within 5 years I become suspicious. 

For some businesses the freemium model maybe the legitimate choice, certainly VC’s love it as it removes salary overheads and promises enormous returns. What is often missing is any meaningful insight into the needs of the products intended audience and whether there is sufficient evidence that free users will  be sufficiently hooked by the service to become paying customers. Rather than be seduced by the latest fad why not start by asking a more old fashioned question.

“How can we create something that customers want to buy?”

Building and managing a direct sales force is much less sexy than spending money on a viral video campaign or an innovative free app but when done well, it is predictable, repeatable and measurable. 

In my experience, competitive advantage usually comes from doing hard things that are important so if your target audience includes corporate customers think very carefully before deciding against a direct sales approach because it looks difficult. If you have a stepped sales process that relies on people subscribing via your website in order to make a sale what happens if they don’t? Are you willing to pick up the phone and make an appointment with a prospect? Go and see them to discuss how you can make them a customer? 

The answer I often hear is - that is not how our market works. Perhaps…but it could also provide a competitive advantage if your competitors are behaving the same way.